If you are an elegant respectful gentleman who happened to be on a business trip in Germany at the end of January until the mid-February, do not be surprised if on one ice-cold snowy Thursday a strangely dressed woman of a ‘Balzac Age’ runs up at you screaming. Beware! Even though you might manage to read out a jolly smile through her heavily smeared make-up, check if she is holding a pair of sharp scissors in her hand. And if she is… run! ‘Die Wieberfastnacht’ or the ‘Women’s Carnival Day’ is a Thursday a week before the long Christian Lent. On this day ladies become untamed and demonstrate the disobedience by cutting off neckties from men (tie is then a symbol) and giving kisses to the scared male.
The Women’s Carnival Day marks the beginning of the 6-day climax period of the ‘Karneval’ season which starts on 11th November at 11.11 a.m. every year.
Nowadays the event is related to the Roman Catholic church and the Lent before the Easter. Accordingly the dates of the Carnival are calculated looking into the religious calendar. The word ‘Carnival’ in itself already proves this connection: derived from Latin ’carne vale’ it means ’farewell to meat’ (one of the strictest condition of the Lent is not to eat any meat). ’Meat’ here can also be interpreted as ’flesh’, thus pointing to the another restriction - reserving from sex or any acts of seducing the human ’flesh’. However, the origins of this ’Good-bye party’ for earthly pleasures are still disputable and are said to have deeper roots in the pagan times. According to this point of view, our early ancestors, tired of cold and dark times during the year, dressed themselves up in funny clothes and put on ugly masks to scare the demons who were then believed to be controlling the seasons.
In one way or another the whole thing has become very significant in the life of the Catholic world and especially in Germany. This importance is evident by the scale of preparation German cities and organizations undertake for this event. Members of different clubs and associations dress up in creative, humorous costumes of unimaginable beauty to marsh out into the streets all together and greet people with a warm ’Helau!’ and a bunch of candies at the weekend after the ’Women’s Carnival Day’. But it does not end with the weekend. The hottest day of the celebration is the ‘Rose-Monday’ which then pours into the finishing stage of the 6-day partying on ‘Fasching-Tuesday’. By the next day, the whole Carnival season started on 11th November is over and the ‘Ash-Wednesday‘ opens the Lent. Germany is then back to order again.
For those who would like to calculate the most cheerful week of the Carnival season for the next year, please, remember that the ‘Ash-Wednesday’ is always the 40th day before Easter, not including the Sundays. Or in other words, 46th calendar day. Correspondingly, you risk to have your tie cut of on the Thursday before. Our small team visited the city of Frankfurt am Main on one of the Carnival days and is pleased to offer our readers the photo-results of the day in the gallery.
